Electronic bid bonds
When working with suppliers for events with large dollar amounts, it is common to require that the supplier provide a bid bond with their response. The bid bond is a form of insurance that shows that the supplier can perform the work. Surety 2000 offers the ability provide a Bid Bond ID, which ties to a bid bond that can be verified electronically. Electronic bid bonds support the electronic storage and validation of bid bonds along with some support for paper bid bonds.
Defining bid bond events
Define an event as using bid bonds from the Response Options section of the Event header. Select the Require Bid Bond check box to show an optional Bid Bond Percent field. The field indicates the percentage of the total bid that must be supplied to the bond insurer by the supplier. This percentage must match the percentage on the electronic bid bond. The Require Bid Bond check box can be selected or cleared until a supplier submits a response.
Entry of bid bond ID in supplier portal
When a supplier responds to an event that requires a bid bond, there is an additional tab during the response process for adding the electronic Bid Bond ID or attaching a scan of a paper bid bond. If the supplier has a Bid Bond ID number from Surety 2000, they can specify it. The Bid Bond ID number is verified with Surety 2000 based on the ID number existing, the supplier number matching the number on the bond, and the event number matching the number on the bond. If the supplier does not have a Bid Bond ID number, then click the link on the form to go to the Surety 2000 website and start the process of getting a bond ID.
If any of these items do not match, an error is displayed to the supplier and they must work with Surety 2000 to get a valid bond ID. If the bond ID is validated, then further editing is performed at submission to verify that the bid bond percentages match, if they are specified on the event, and that the bid amount does not exceed the bid bond amount. If either of these conditions cause an error, the response cannot be submitted.
If the response can be submitted, then the Bid Bond Validated field is Yes so that the buyer knows the supplier's bid bond ID has been validated. If the supplier does not specify a Bid Bond ID on the response, then a message on the submission form indicates that they must provide a paper bid bond. If an attachment of a paper bid bond is submitted, then a message is displayed indicating that the supplier must provide a physical copy of the paper bid bond.
You cannot submit both an electronic and paper bid bond. The text at the top of the Bid Bond form is user defined. It has a default value but can be changed in Sourcing Company under Bid Bond Text.
Manually submission of responses with paper bid bonds
If a supplier provides a manual response with a paper bid bond, that information can be attached to the response by scanning the paper bid bond and attaching it to the response in the Attach Paper Bid Bond field. When a paper Bid Bond is attached to a response, the Bid Bond is validated.
Bid bonds in the analysis forms
During the event response analysis process, information about electronic bid bonds can be viewed by clicking the button. Paper bid bonds that have been scanned and attached can be displayed by clicking the View Paper Bid Bond button.
If a bid bond has not yet been validated for an event, click the button and attach a paper bid bond. Otherwise the event cannot be awarded. If a supplier has attached a paper bid bond, then a validation action still must be performed in the response analysis forms so that the Supplier can be awarded.